Woman's Hour

Best known for The Affair and Luther, and more recently playing her own grandmother in a BBC drama, actor Ruth Wilson joins Emma to talk about her two latest roles – on the London stage in The Human Voice and on screen in True Things.

Jude Terry is the first female Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy’s history. Since joining the Navy in 1997, she has served aboard HMS Scott, and spent two spells with helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, during operations in the Baltic and the Gulf. Two months into her post, Emma talks to her about her new role.

What’s the best way of looking after children who can no longer stay with their birth parents when a family breaks down? Woman’s Hour understands that the Independent Review of Social Care in England is set to recommend that there should be a renewed focus on alternatives to care with a major focus on kinship care. As the charity Kinship sets out its vision of what needs to change, Emma talks to its Chief Executive, Dr Lucy Peake, and to Meyrem, about what it’s like to be a kinship carer.

Woman's Hour delves into the archive to remember Madeleine Albright, the first US Secretary of State.

As the Taliban announces girls will not be allowed to attend secondary school, we hear the voices of girls heartbroken by the decision and the reaction of Malala Yousafzai.

Why don't women in period dramas have body hair? TV shows go to huge lengths with their sets, costumes and wigs to make you feel like you’re looking back at the past but why – given hair removal is a fairly modern development - is body hair so rarely seen? Historian, Dr Marissa C Rhodes joins Emma to discuss.

Presenter: Emma Barnett

Photo Credit: Jan Versweyveld.

Ash Barty, the Australian three time grand slam champion is retiring from tennis. Her achievements are matched only by her fellow player, Serena Williams. Andy Murray tweeted "Happy for Ash, gutted for tennis. What a player". We hear from Gigi Salmon, tennis commentator for the BBC who has interviewed Ash Barty many times over the years, and has been at all her three major wins.

The concept of shame first named in the bible when Eve plucked the apple from the tree of life is invariably seen as negative force in society. But in a new book by the author Cathy O Neil she suggests that shame can be a powerful and sometimes a useful tool for good: when we publicly shame corrupt politicians, abusive celebrities or predatory corporations. She joins Emma Barnett to discuss hew new book ‘The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation’.

Woman's Hour listener Fran heard one of the conversations in our series Threads which explores the emotional power of old clothes. She remembered a tiny dress and cardigan which she last wore more than 60 years ago. I spoke to her and asked her to describe them.

Presenter: Emma Barnett

Interviewed Guest: Gigi Salmon

Who was Ellen Wilkinson? Poet and playwright Caroline Bird aims to tell us all about her as her new work Red Ellen goes on tour.

Yesterday Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe faced a room of journalists and cameras. She knew what she wanted to say, and what she didn't want to say after six years away from home. Despite the trauma she's been through why do some people feel she needs to express more gratitude? What are their reasons? And how surprising is it to see these comments? We hear from Gina Miller who took the Government to court - and won - over how it tried to implemented Brexit without approval from Parliament.

With millions experiencing food insecurity in Afghanistan what impact does this have on women’s rights? Emma speaks to Mary-Ellen McGroarty, director of the United Nations World Food Programme in Afghanistan.

Are you someone who can’t help but pick up a gossip magazine? Do you love nothing more than finding out about the latest celebrity break up? Chartered clinical psychologist Dr Hamira Riaz; and Dr Aisha K. Gill, Professor of Criminology at the University of Roehampton discuss why do we do it and whether it's good for us to watch relationships breakdown in public.

And the study from Cardiff University that suggests that hybrid working may encourage more women to take up local politics.

Presenter Emma Barnett

A new exhibition, Photographing Protest: Resistance through a feminist lens, features striking protest images by women and explores how images of resistance resonate across generations from 1968 to the present day. Maggie Murray, a prolific photographer of protest, whose images feature throughout the exhibition. As a founding member of Format photo agency, she documented ground-breaking protests of the 1980s and 1990s and tells Emma about her work.

Currently based in Warsaw, Melinda Simmons has been the British Ambassador for the Ukraine since September 2019. She left Kyiv on 19 February 2022 and only finally left Ukraine on 7th March 2022 eleven days after the Russian invasion. She joins Emma to discuss Putin, Ukrainian refugees and the support role she and her team are now playing for Ukrainian citizens from Poland.

We talk about the cost-of-living crisis and the ends some women are going to to make ends meet with Matthew Greenwood head of debt at the Centre for Social Justice.

Would you wear the same dress for 100 days? Could you do it? Emma Beddington made it to 40 days wearing the same dress as a challenge. We speak to her and Sandy Black, Professor of Fashion and Textile Design and Technology, about the power, sustainability and history of wearing the same item over and over again.

Are you struggling to get hold of your HRT? Menopausal women are reporting being forced to turn to the so-called black market as demand for prescriptions in England has doubled in the last five years. We speak to Tina Backhouse the General Manager of Theramex, one of the largest suppliers of HRT to the UK market about what is causing the current problems.

Presenter: Emma Barnett

Photo credit: Maggie Murray

As Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe comes home after six years in Iranian detention, Emma spoke to the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss MP about what it took to secure her release along with another British-Iranian hostage Anoosheh Ashoori.

In true popstar fashion, singer Rihanna announced her pregnancy in January with a New York photoshoot alongside her boyfriend, the rapper ASAP Rocky, wearing a bright pink coat, with layers of gold jewellery and chains resting on her new baby bump. And since that announcement, she’s been seen wearing a number of eye-catching outfits. But is there a bump fashion revolution coming? And what could this mean for the everyday pregnant woman? We speak to celebrity stylist Jennifer Michalski-Bray and pregnant content creator Zara Bentley.

The history of civil rights changed when Barbara Lisicki met Alan Holdsworth. The two were disabled cabaret performers in the 1980s when they met, fell in love and founded the disabled people’s Direct Action Network (DAN). They became the driving force behind the campaign that ultimately led to the passing of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. A new BBC Two drama, Then Barbara Met Alan, tells their story. Anita Rani hears from the real-life Barbara Lisicki, and Ruth Madeley, the actor who plays her.

Even in the face of war, food has a special power in bringing people together. Russian Chef Alissa Timoshkina and Ukrainian Chef Olia Hercules are best friends who have joined forces to set up Cook for Ukraine, a culinary campaign raising funds to support the humanitarian effort in Ukraine. They are encouraging people to celebrate Ukrainian and Eastern European culture by cooking traditional food. They talk about their experiences as friends from opposing frontiers.

Presented by Anita Rani

Brittney Griner is 6 foot 9. She's an American basketball player, some say she's the greatest female basketball player of all time and she is currently being detained in Russia on drug charges that could carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Overnight Russian courts have extended her detention for two more months. All this while tensions between Russia and the States remain tense and her family worry she may be used as a political pawn. Molly McElwee, the Telegraph's Women's Sports reporter explains.

To mark Red Nose Day Ena Miller visits a Comic Relief supported project helping survivors of domestic abuse. At Tower House Horses they use equine assisted learning to help women improve their mental health and recover their confidence. A woman we are calling Sophie tells her story and Susie, one of the co-founders of the project, explains how horses help women who have been through trauma.

Yesterday the government set out its plans to address racial disparities in the UK with changes to policing, health and education. Inclusive Britain: the government response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities sets out 70 plans including ones to tackle the differences in maternal health to ones referring to police powers. There also includes a plan to get a diverse panel of historians to, as the report puts it, ‘develop a new knowledge rich History Curriculum by 2024 exploring Britain’s historical past’. But how would that actually work in practice?

Kendra Mylnechuk Potter was adopted into a white family and raised with no knowledge of her Native background. A new film 'Daughter of a Lost Bird' currently showing at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival follows Kendra as she connects with her birth mother April, also a Native adoptee, and discovers her Lummi homelands in Washington state. Her story has parallels with many of those children affected by the 1958 Indian Adoption project, where Native children in the US were removed from their families and placed in white homes, dubbed by some as' cultural genocide'. In the late1970s the Indian Child Welfare Act came into force which prioritised keeping native Indian children within their own tribes. Anita speaks to Kendra and to the filmmaker Brooke Pepion Swaney.

The history of civil rights changed when Barbara Lisicki met Alan Holdsworth. The two were disabled cabaret performers in the 1980s when they met, fell in love and founded the disabled people’s Direct Action Network (DAN). They became the driving force behind the campaign that ultimately led to the passing of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. A new BBC Two drama, Then Barbara Met Alan, tells their story. We hear from the real-life Barbara Lisicki, and Ruth Madeley, the actor who plays her.

Presenter: Anita Rani

Interviewed Guest: Molly McElwee

As Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe comes home after six years in Iranian detention, Emma speaks to the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss MP about what it took to secure her release along with another British-Iranian hostage Anoosheh Ashoori.

The recent resignation of DUP First Minister, Paul Givan, from Stormont last month, has left people in Northern Ireland without a properly functioning government. On top of that, an election is coming - one that could bring massive political change if recent polls are to be believed. Leading unionist and DUP MLA Diane Dodds joins Emma on the programme to discuss Brexit, the Northern Ireland protocol and cooperation in Stormont.

A damning new report has revealed how a black schoolgirl was strip searched by the Metropolitan Police while on her period after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis. The review conducted by City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership took place without another adult present at the girl's secondary school in Hackney in 2020. The report states that during the search the girls "intimate body parts" were exposed and she was made to take off her sanitary towel. Emma speaks to Antoinette Bramble, Hackney's Deputy Mayor and cabinet member for children's services and Shabnam Chaudri, a former Detective Superintendent at the Metropolitan Police.

Charlotte Mendelson's new books features the Hanrahans a big, arty family living in their bohemian North London home. Ray and Lucia are both artists, she has surrendered her career for his and their grown-up children seem dazzled by their outrageous, talented father. But, things are not as they seem and family secrets are bubbling under the surface. Charlotte joins Emma.

Even in the face of war, food has a special power in bringing people together. Russian Chef Alissa Timoshkina and Ukrainian Chef Olia Hercules are best friends who have joined forces to set up Cook for Ukraine, a culinary campaign raising funds to support the humanitarian effort in Ukraine. They are encouraging people to celebrate Ukrainian and Eastern European culture by cooking traditional food. They join Emma Barnett to talk about their experiences as friends from opposing frontiers.

Marina Ovsyannikova is an employee of Russia’s state Channel One television interrupting the channel’s main news programme on Monday night in an extraordinary act of protest against Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. She burst on to the set of the live broadcast of the nightly news on Monday evening, shouting: “Stop the war. No to war.” - holding a handwritten sign to the same effect. The protest was welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky who mentioned it in his televised address last night.. And within hours of her protest, more than 40,000 people had left comments on the journalist's Facebook page, with many praising her for taking a stand. Professor of International Relations at London School of Economics, Tomila Lankina joins Emma.

In 2020, The Woman’s Hour Power List celebrated 30 inspiring women whose work is making a significant positive contribution to the environment and the sustainability of our planet. Today, we talk to the Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, who topped that List. Can the UK afford its net zero policies? With the cost of living rising, and the impact of the war in Ukraine, are Britain's plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions too expensive? Joining Caroline to discuss will be engineer and nuclear industry expert, Dame Sue Ion.

In true popstar fashion, singer Rihanna announced her pregnancy in January with a New York photoshoot alongside her boyfriend, the rapper ASAP Rocky, wearing a bright pink coat, with layers of gold jewellery and chains resting on her new baby bump. And since that announcement, she’s been seen wearing a number of eye-catching outfits. But is there a bump fashion revolution coming? And what could this mean for the everyday pregnant woman? Celebrity stylist Jennifer Michalski-Bray and pregnant content creator Zara Bentley join us.

Last week South Korea picked a new president: Yoon Suk-yeol. He is a conservative who defeated his liberal rival Lee Jae-myung. During his campaign he promised to abolish the Ministry for Gender Equality, denying that women face discrimination. South Korea has one of the worst women's rights records in the developed world, although modest gains have been made over the last few years. But that has ignited an anti-feminist backlash among many young men who see feminism as reverse discrimination, taking away their jobs and opportunities. So what does Yoon Suk-yeol’s election mean for women? Emma is joined by Laura Bicker, the BBC’s Soeul Correspondent and the feminist South-Korean film-maker Youjin Do.

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has revealed he is officially changing his name to incorporate his mother Carmen's surname - Larbalestier. He says that he wants her name to continue on with the Hamilton name, and that he doesn't understand why "when people get married then the woman loses her name." It is understood that he will include it as a middle name rather than a surname. Dr Jane Pilcher, Associate Professor of sociology, Nottingham Trent University discusses what impact a high profile man taking this step could have.

Purnima tells the story of a beautiful hand-knitted dress she brought with her to the UK when her family was expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin. The latest in our series Threads.

Presenter: Emma Barnett

Interviewed Guest: Professor Tomila Lankina

On Saturday a ceremony took place at Bristol Cathedral to replace a plaque that marked the day women priests were first ordained by the Church of England, in 1994. The original plaque only listed the names of the men who attended the ceremony, and not the 32 women who had made history that day. Almost 30 years later, the plaque finally displays the women’s names. Emma speaks to Reverend Angela Berners-Wilson, the first woman to be ordained by the church, and the Bishop of Bristol, Right Reverend Vivienne Faull, who led the ceremony on Saturday.

A pregnant woman who was photographed being carried on a stretcher - following the bombing of a maternity hospital in the southern port of Mariupol in Ukraine last Wednesday - is reported to have died, along with her baby. The attack on the hospital caused outrage around the world. 4000 children have been born in Ukraine since the war began nearly three weeks ago. Emma is joined by Louise Callaghan, Foreign Correspondent at The Sunday Times.

Marked as a breakthrough in female contraception the Pill has been used for over six decades. 28% of women say it remains their preferred form of contraception, followed closely by the male condom. However, more recently on social media some young women are documenting their decisions to come off it. Emma is joined by Dr Jane Dickson, Consultant in sexual and reproductive health care, and former vice president of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, and Lottie Drynan who stopped taking the pill just over a year ago, after being on it for 13 years, and has been documenting her journey on Instagram.

We know that women are more environmentally conscious when shopping for the household - but there’s one area where that doesn't seem to be the case - cars. There are now over 600,000 plug-in electric vehicles in the UK, but a new study has found that 20% of women haven’t even considered buying an electric car. We speak to Erin Baker, Editorial Director at AutoTrader about why women are less likely to opt for electric vehicles.

It's been deemed a 'victory for women'. A campaign group has won a legal challenge against the Metropolitan Police over the force's handling of a vigil for Sarah Everard. Sarah Everard was murdered by serving Met police officer Wayne Couzens - and the vigil was to be near where she was killed in Clapham in London during Covid lockdown. But when the group got in contact with the police they were told that it would be illegal and could face fines over 10,000 pounds each and possible prosecution. So they cancelled the original plan but a spontaneous vigil and protest took place anyway. Anna Birley, the founder of Reclaim These Streets speaks to Emma.